Ralph Appelbaum Associates

RAA has been commissioned by the Statue of Liberty—Ellis Island Foundation to design a renovated museum experience at the site of America’s iconic former immigration station. Our work will build on the museum’s foundational exhibits, many of which date to its opening as a museum in 1990, and its historic architecture.

The expanded visitor journey will utilize all three floors of the museum while integrating newly opened portions of the former Kitchen and Laundry Building, previously unseen by the visiting public. New exhibits will feature a cross-section of a 19th-century immigrant ship, a historical recreation of a Hester Street pushcart, and a large-scale architectural media frieze that evokes the excitement and energy of arriving at the Port of New York during the Ellis Island Era.